Thursday, 10 May 2012

Big news, I have gone viral! 105,000 people have visited my blog and thanks to all of you. Even bigger news my dad got a tweet from Jamie Oliver!

"Shocking but inspirational blog. Keep going, Big love from Jamie x"

I am really glad he looked in and it has put a smile on my face. I was a bit nervous going to school but everyone was great and I'm glad I haven't upset anybody.

I love Mexican food and today's Chicken Fajita was very nice and enjoyable. It was stuffed with salsa and chicken and served with garlic bread. I got sent back for salad as I missed it first time round!

Sending greetings from the Czech republic. I'm 19 and just finishing high school. I have to say, I'm glad for the lunches we had. The first few years weren't that good, but 3 years back Procter & Gamble built us a new cafeteria and compared to you, we must have been eating far too well. Big portions and all the seconds you wanted for the price of 26 CZK (if I'm not mistaken, that should be around £1. I really love your idea. Keep going!

Hi, Veg!I came here to say how much I loved this idea - you're a true inspiration for all of us. Food is one of the main problems of the world today and every one should help the way they can.I also love Jamie Oliver and I leaned how to cook (actually, I'm still learning) from him!Love from Brazil, you're news here as well!

I'm loving your blog. It really needed a child to highlight the poor dinners children are given in schools. I'm 25 and I remember when I was back in primary school my meals were a lot larger than yours! Growing children should not be given fat free yoghurts either. That is disgusting. You're too young to start worrying about calories! Hopefully your school board will review the food. Keep up the good work. Stacey x

Im intrigued with your blog. Well done you & keep up the good work.Im horrified that my precious son may be exposed to meals like this. He is 7 and i showed him your blog in the hope he'd reassure me, he just said "yes...whats wrong" I have worked so hard to make sure he eats really well at home. Im not sure what the answer is because its obviously a funding thing. if i was a "dinner lady" i'd struggle to serve up one croquet...Your head of school must me mortified at this exposure but he or she needs to act now....what they are serving up is neglectful at best!What you are doing is brilliant, you are eloquent, dignified & obviously very intelligent....well done love x (dad- you should be so proud of your daughter!) x

Poor Jamie Oliver. It must be so sad to see that in spite of all his hard work to get decent lunches in schools they are still churning out rubbish like that! There's barely enough to keep a mouse alive!

Perhaps now that you've gone public the school may have a rethink about school meals. We hope.

Congratulations on both your viral status and attracting the attention of Jamie Oliver - somebody has a bright future to look forward to.

I hope your blog helps to make changes to your school meals, both in quantity and in quality. Sadly, as with many publicly outsourced contracts, too much emphasis has been placed on cost and by highlighting this problem, I believe somebody will see this is a cut too far.

Don't worry too much about upsetting people with your opinions, you'll never gain the approval of everybody, no matter how hard you try. The contract catering company who delivers this food may be a little upset, but in this instance, the truth is they should feel embarrassed! If you stay true to what you believe and can robustly defend your points of view (and hopefully positively influence others), that quality will serve you well throughout your life.

It's nice to see some variety on your school's menu (I didn't even know what a fajita was when I was as school), but those portions look tiny. How are you supposed to concentrate on your afternoon lessons when you're still hungry?

This might be something you can ask your classmates. How filling are the lunches? Are they enough to get you through to dinner?

One other though, does your school have any spare land where you could plant a school garden? If you were able to grow some of your own veges the school might be able to spend more money on other, better food.

Just stopped by to say your success reached all the way to Brazil! Great, inspiring and educational. I hope you start a revolution on the health system of the schools in your town. It's absolutely great when a young mind makes authorities ashamed! LOL!

A little tip: if You have camera problems, ask your school friends to take the photo.

Here in Finland we have free school lunch and alot of kids and parents complaint about the quality. They just don't see that things are alot worse in other countries. I wish that Your blog makes changes :)

Again, I have to say, great idea for a blog. I'd love to see someone here in the US do this kind of thing. As for this day's lunch, I'm wondering why they would serve a fajita *and* garlic bread. Seems a bit strange. And I wouldn't call that little bit of veggies a salad, but maybe that's just me. Do you have a choice of drinks? Can you get milk if you want? Just curious. I'm going to give a shout out to you and your blog on my own blog and on Facebook as well. Take care, and keep blogging!

Congratulations from Spain, sweetheart! Sometimes it takes bravery just to say the truth. I sincerely hope your pictures and your blog force a change in your daily menu, for you and all the kids in your school.

Hello Martha. I just read about your blog in a spanish online newspaper and want to congratulate you for your work. This world also belongs to the kids, please go on saying your opinions. "Food luck" from the Canary Islands,Michael

I´ve read on the newspaper in Spain about your blog. Such a good idea! Food looks quite unhealthy. You has been a good idea and now society could become aware of the problem and start a discussion to solve it!Here, there are some school that has been started to cook organic food for the kids. Good luck and congratulation from Barcelona!

I'm also bemused by the fact you don't appear to have been given any fruit - not even fruit juice. Surely that would have been better than water? (Y'know, if you're inclined to drink juice, rather than water..)

Also, it makes me sad to think that that's all the salad you get. We had a salad bar when I was at primary school (introduced in my last year, and not so much a salad bar as a table with salad-y stuff on it in bowls.. it was a small school..) and I used to eat LOADS of salad. I maintain that's why I'm still a salad fiend now.

I wouldn't be surprised if half of your year end up with an eating disorder, and the other half with fast food habits. Do you ever get cottage pie or anything normal like that?

Kudos to you though, kid - you've not been slanderous towards your dinner ladies as yet! I'm most impressed. :) Keep up the good work!

I was talking about juice vs water in respect of '5-a-day' and general nutrition. :) I think children ought to be given water while they're working during the day - dehydration was never good for anyone!

I like the idea of your blog! I'm an Aussie/Sweden living in Sweden and went to school in sweden as a kid. We have free lunches over here and I remember everyone always complaining about it, looking back at it now we had some fantastic food offered to us with salad bars and healthy home cooked food every day. Of course for us kids the hamburger and pizza days were the most popular, but they only came around once every 6 months, not to mention never ever getting anything deep fried :) I hope there will be some change for you guys. Oh andto comment on PP water is always the better option when it comes to drink, fruit juice is full of sugar and will spike your insulin levels ;)

Sweetheart, you got headllines in the most important Spanish newspapers with a link to your blog. Your blog is popular because it contains very good ingredientes: important topic, short, impacting photos and good humor (I laugh with this idea of "pieces of hair")Jose

hahahahaha, Internet is fantastic and also your blog!!!! I love the power of your blog, politicians worried? FINALLY!!!!. You are in the Spanish newspapers... http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2012/05/10/internacional/1336674084.htmlCongratulations!!!!Keep it up!

Reading you from Switzerland and Spain ... excellent blog! congrats.I am a mum and cooking for my little one is my number time hobbie, I would die if she would have to eat things that are not good for her or that she doesn't like. She is only two now, but I'll encourage to do the same when she gets older. What is the school doing in response to this?

Great job with this blog. As Jaimie Oliver said in Twitter: inspirational. Keep hard on it. I came throug an spanish newspaper (El Mundo, Checho's right: You're in the newspapers!) So, congratulations from Spain. I'll come more often ;)

Congratulations! I love the way you are doing this! They've been talking about you also on the biggest newspaper here in Italy: http://www.corriere.it/salute/nutrizione/12_maggio_11/martha-pranzo-scuola_99d9b048-9b4c-11e1-81bc-34fceaba092f.shtmlKeep going!!!

Wonderful blog. The carrot and coriander soup looks good but I can see why you are hungry with those small portions. When I ate school dinners away back in the early 1950s a wicked nun walked up and down the dining hall with a cane and beat anybody who didn't finish every bit. I remember being caned on both hands for refusing to eat pickled beetroot.I'm glad children are treated more kindly nowadays.

Hello there, here a message from the Netherlands. Keep up the good work! It looks like you have way too little veggies for a decent meal. And the cooked ones I saw on your photos looked well, so overcooked they must be floppy. Also the portions seem too small for growing active children. Low fat yogurt should not be on the menu, but real (organic) ones without sweeteners. I hope they will improve your meals soon!

Hi Martha, I am a spanish mum, living in Scotland, with a girl of you age. The news of your blog came to me from Spain as it was in the press today. I think I am going to give my daughter a camera so I can see what she is eating too at school!. (and then report it to Jamie Oliver?).Great work! you are an absolute star!xx

"you got headllines in the most important Spanish newspapers with a link to your blog"Same here in Italy ;)http://www.corriere.it/salute/nutrizione/12_maggio_11/martha-pranzo-scuola_99d9b048-9b4c-11e1-81bc-34fceaba092f.shtml

Good job Veg, keep up like this!

Greetings from Italy.

M.

(and if it ever happens you'll be around Venice, consider yourself my guest for a big pizza and an even bigger italian ice cream ;)

Veg, sadly Spain is full of morons like Nicolas who are obsessed with their small politics, even when writing in an awesome blog like yours. Keep up the good work and come to Catalonia, you'll love our food!

Things look to have improved a bit today - maybe they have instructions to make your plate look appetising??!! What does your friends plates look like?? They even reminded you go back for salad so that you'd have something healthy on your daily photo - I think you've got them worried!!! LOL

An article about your blog just appeared in main online spanish newspaper La vanguardia. I can't believe that this kind of food that I wouldn't even give to my dog is the daily meal of thousands of children.

Congratulations for bringing light to this problem.

Why don't politicians have the same menu at the Parliament's restaurant?

My name's Jenny, I'm a Spanish student and I have just heard about your blog in the news. I'm studying English teaching at the University and I hope to find someday pupils as mature as you. I really admire you and I hope you keep going with your "struggle" for a better menu :)

I love your blog, what a fab idea. I work at lunchtimes at school and the main complaint the children make is that the portion sizes are the same, whether you are 5 or 11 years old! Your pizza and croqette meal looks really tiny to me. All the best!

Hello VEG !!! Today watching the news, I saw a new about one girl, who have a blog, and write about her school meal !! I'm a spanich girl with 14 years of life, (sorry, my english is not very good !!), I love your blog, and you, now, in spanish, are so famous !! Jajajajja.

Martha: What a great job you are doing. I used to work at our local as a lunchtime supervisor so I know that children need agood lunch and how hard it is to get them to eat for that doesn't look appetising. What strikes me in your pics is how horrible the sectioned serving plates look, and how flat and uninteresting most of the food seems. You can have proper 'compliant' grub without it looking so dull!

No wonder your blog has gone viral. How can we expect the next genration to do well in school if the lunches are so poor? No child can be expected to concentrate if they are feed poor quality food & tiny portions. Yes, obesity is a problem for some, but malnutrition for all is not the answer.Best wishes & keep up your fantastic work with your blog.

Well done for highlighting the poor state of school lunches. Education is more than just maths and English, it should be about learning life skills like eating well, and healthily. Sadly it seems that the schools don't care in this department.Keep up the great work on your blog, I know you didn't realise it when you set out, but a whole lot of people are now talking about school dinners so hopefully the powers that be will pay attention. OPur children deserve the best, that food is anything but.

Welcome to the blogging world Veg. I think your blog has taken off big time, i only wish mine was as successful. But I think your idea is brilliant and something everyone can relate to and will be interested in. Hopefully this will make schools change their food a bit and start giving you better portions of veg! Seriously 1 croqette is not enough for anyone. So keep up the good work little VEG!

This is why I protested and my Mum gave me packed lunch! Although back then (1980s!) I was afraid of the menu of boiled caterpillars in yellow cabbage with spam and then something sugary covered in lumpy cold custard for afters!!! Yeauch!

Good luck with your blogging and I hope you enjoy more hearty lunches soon!

Greetings from Mexico,I am glad you like our food... but it really does not look like our food, it looks like the USA version of our food. Nevertheless, I am glad you like it. I am impressed by your age, you are very very young and yet clever and elocuent, I have a question... do you think food is going to be your passion and may be you profession?

Good Job VEG - shocked at the poor quality and small quantity of your lunch. Have just shown your blog to my 9 year old and two of her classmates. Their response is that your lunches seemed bigger and looked tastier than theirs. They even say that they get more food at snack at their after school club (run independently of the school) than they do at lunch. Thankfully both my kids have packed lunches most days! Keep up the good work. Maybe you should run a campaign to have a secret "school lunch snapshot" day around the world. I am sure there would be kids with amazing lunches. Surely in a developed country we can give our kids better school meals!

Hello. I am Japanese and some Japanese news sites said that your school lunch is normal school lunch in all England and all Japanese who read sucha sites and can't read your English blog think it's true and feel really sorry for British teenagers.Very funny,isn't it?

And Your pictures really make me laugh. I never had sucha school lunch in my school days. I feel sorry for you but it may be good because you will never be a fat girl thanks to your school's "stingy school lunch policy" lol I used to get more than second and was really fat when I was your age.

Hi Veg - fantastic work and congrats on going viral. I can't believe how small your portions are! Please, please, please don't take this as criticism - your writing is wonderful - but just for me is there any chance you could add an apostrophe between the "l" and the "s" in pupil's? So it should read "One primary school pupil's daily dose of school dinners". Thanks! Keep up the really good work!Best regardsJim

I have been looking at your blog for a few days now. I cannot believe parents agree to pay for this food.

I wish the schools would go back to the way we had school dinners. We had to sit at a table, the plates, cutlery and cups were already there. Two people were respnsible for putting the food on our plate, we even had to have things on the plate if we didnt like them. We would then have to clear away the plates, then pudding would be brought to us and the dinner ladies poured the custard. We always had to have at least a cup of water.

Is your water in a jug on the table? And are the children encouraged to drink it.

Keep up the good work. It will be interesting to see what happens and if other children or even adults (hospital etc) do the same.

They have some odd combinations going on & that doesn't look a great lunch (though miles better than some of the others you posted). I seriously doubt you are getting more than one of your 5 a day for any of those meals & I'd fully expect you to be getting 2-3 minimum so those who don't get great food at home still have one great balanced meal.

My work cafteria is run by a company called Eurest. We get mostly great food at lunch for between £1 & £4 with plenty of healthy options including a salad bar, jacket potatoes, loads of sandwich choices and a couple of different hot meals. I know we have some subsidy going in but it's not a huge one. Given what we would get for the same money (as examples I could have had stuffed pasta with a tomato based vegetable sauce for £1.95, A large portion of chicken curry with rice, raita & popadoms for £2.50 or a jacket with tuna mayo or cheese savoury or chicken cubes & a salad for £1.70) I can't believe for a moment that's all they can manage for £2 a head. I seriously could do better than that just catering at home and I'd only need £1.20 or so to do it. Maybe the answer is for the staff's wages to be subsidised so the money all goes into getting some decent food? If not surely it would be better if they charged slightly more and gave you a real meal?

I´m so sorry about the food(and small portions) that you´re getting. I really hope something changes...and improves. As I read in one of the messages, I also agree that you should be getting fruit(very important!) and a normal yoghurt(no fat free one)...and more(and decent)salad!Oh my goodness! at your school it´s like nobody ever heard from the "Healthy eating pyramid"...

When I went to school in Guatemala, there was not such thing as lunch at school(I don´t know if they have such nowadays). We ate what we brought from home. At least that gave parents the right to decide what their kids would eat, and the child a chance to express some wishes...only there was no way to eat the meals warm...

I hope with your blog you reach a change, but most important an improvement!

I am loving your blog but as I was previously a governor at a school and we went on a special government course to get some healthy eating awards - I think someone at your school should look into getting some advice on healthy eating - and Jamie needs to visit and 'jamie-ise your menu'

Keep up the blog and 'don't worry what others say' you say it as you want to.......

Excellent news that Jamie Oliver knows about what you are doing, the poor bloke fought so hard to get school dinners healthier and nutritious for children in the UK, and what you are showing must be a smack in the face for him :( I read from a guy called Karl on here that prisoners get better food than our children, and that truly disgusts me, no wonder they can escape from prison and riot lol they have energy and feel good, totally the wrong way round. Oh yes and they don't have to pay for them, the taxpayers do, I know who I would rather my taxed monies go to feeding, and it ain't criminals.

The Government really need to change the way they spend our money in this Country. Why do they think we need yet another new rail line that is going to cost an estimated 33 billion quid, that could go into schools instead, but they seem to have forgotten that children are our future :(

Your blog is one of the best blog that I have read. Good luck and keep post this funny meals. I´m from Spain (Madrid) and I can say that Spanish meals is very complete and variated. I wish eat tipical Englis´meal some day.¡Un saludo desde España!

Brilliant idea. Shocking to see the food. Really sorry that you have to eat this every day. I hope that the famous Scottish breakfasts sustain you. The wrap looks a step in the right direction though. Keep it up. Well done!

I love reading your blog & find it fascinating that in this day & age that meals like this can be served up to students. We do not have anything like this in australia - we are expected to bring our own lunches from home or we can purchase a lunch from the canteen ( which strictly only have healthy choices).

Good job Veg in sharing this information with the world - I hope you see some scrumptious nutritious meals soon!

You have been an absolute inspiration!! My daughter is 6 and she is always hungry i always pass it off as boredom but after seeing this i have paid more attention! thank you!! Keep up the good work!!!Oh and Dad: I Love banana bread!!!

I saw your blog on lovefood.com. I live in the West of Scotland too and I'm astonished at the food you are being presented with. Have you heard of "The Schools (Health Promotion and Nutrition)(Scotland) Act 2007" (have your dad google it). I don't think your school has heard of it and they should have. I wonder what Mr Salmond would have to say if this slop was being served in the Holyrood canteen!

My kids go to a school in North Lanarkshire and they have lots of good information on their council website. Perhaps your council and North Lanarkshire council could put their heads together and come up with a solution before you end up with rickets! Info on North Lanarkshire Councils school meals here if you are interested, their catering was awarded Customer Service Excellence (CSE) status in 2011 http://www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=5595

Even I can not believe that you really give to eat so little at school! is outrageous. I saw your blog yesterday announced on television (from Spain), I hope your blog will serve at least to improve the menu at your school. A greeting very strong and encouraging.

You probably know but you are at the front page of spanish digital newspapers today.Having lived in the UK and now in Spain, the difference in the food kids eat is outrageous. Sorry to say, you guys get the worst partCongrats on your blog, great idea!!!

Well done for highlighting the poor meals children are being served these days.

It should come as no surprise that lunches for Ministers at Holyrood were recently subsudised @ £12.00 per meal. What's more surprising is that they blamed the inflated costs "due to spiralling staff costs" and nothing about the £12 cost.

This is so bad. For £2 I could feed a family of 6 a decent meal. I am a teacher and I never eat school dinners - we actually pay more and are given the same portions as kids and as you point out Veg, the health score is pretty low! Well done for blogging this.

Is this £2 per meal or £2 per week? My household budget for myself and my daughter is £4.30 per day for all meals, drinks, cleaning items and toiletries. I can put together a lovely dinner for both of us for under £1, but I suppose the school needs to recover labour costs. My daughter's school meals are £9.00 per week. She is lucky to have decent school dinners cooked on the premises and they also supply dinners to other schools in the area. When my daughter is old enough I'll see if she's interested in doing a similar blog as yours, only with photos of how school dinners are supposed to look like, although I hope your dinners are vastly improved by then. When we are growing is the time we are supposed to have the best nourishment possible to enable us to develop properly, both physically and mentally. If school dinners don't provide the nourishment you need then they are in effect stunting your growth. In my opinion that is child abuse. I wish you all the best, Veg. Hopefully your home meals make up for what the school meals are lacking.

HI OUR CLASS HAS BEEN LOOOKING AT YOUR BLOG AMAZING BUT YOUR SCHOOL GETS BETTER FOOD THAN OURS!!I HATE THE FOOD WE GET HERE AND YOU GET ROCKET LOLLIES!!ANYWAY YOUR BLOGS SUPER COOLPEACE OUTLOVE IONA PS THIS IS MY BLOG CLICK AND SEE WHAT YOU THINKhttps://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/fa/cpsionaa/

Hi this is Chloe from scotland i've heard about your blog and seen it it is amazing that you have become an internet hit in one week. Congrats! I also have a blog if you want to see it go to this link http://cpschloej.primaryblogger.co.uk/

This is the problem with Academies. The Government will no longer have any responsibilities. A nasty cheap way of sneaking out of responsibility and being able to blame someone else. Surely in the age of ridiculous protocol and procedures such as allowing a child to get sun burnt as the staff are not allowed to apply it or closing schools in case someone slips, cutting down Horse Chestnut trees in case a child has a nut allergy! What example is this showing the future generation that its perfectly acceptable to feed this to children. Those in charge should feel utterly ashamed, but they won't they are too busy in their counting houses :-(

Dear Martha, I'm a Mar, I'm 26 years old and I'm from Spain. We've got news form your blog trough a newspaper. I realy love your blog, It's simple and clear. Here in Spain, at our schools the food is much better than in UK. When I was al school we used to eat a glass of milk, water, two corses and a dessert. The principal courses usually consits of soup, vegetables, fish, any kind of meat... and we never ate pizza or a burgger for lunch, and never a sweet (cookies, cake...) as a dessert, we could choose between a yougurt or a fruit.

I hope some day your goverment realises that you need a better lunch.

Congrat's for your blog!!!

P.S. I'm also a Jamie Oliver fan (I'think he is one of the best chefs of the world)

I am Yvonne, 29 years old and from Germany. Got your Blog adress from a daily newspaper. WOW.. I love your blog and your idea behind it. When I was in school, long long lonnnng time ago, we just had school in the morning and maybe twice in a week, in the afternoon. So we didnt get anything to eat from the school. Maybe some sweets or a pretzel.

Anyway.. go on with your blog. You are sooo great. And yes .. i have to blame myself. I am also a Jamie Oliver fan. ;-)

Greetings from Texas, where a fajita would never be served with garlic bread! It would be served with black beans, or Spanish rice, or extra sauteed bell peppers, but not garlic bread! : ) These lunches actually look better than many of the ones in the USA. At least it looks like someone makes the food. My mother-in-law works in a school cafeteria, and she is upset because all they want her to do is heat up pre-packaged food. Years ago, she actually cooked things for them, and at least they were homemade. This is very interesting, and very witty! Enjoyed it. : )

Hi from Wisconsin, USA. I think this blog is fantastic! I'm glad to hear your lunches are improving. All kids should get nourishing and good tasting food to eat, in school and at home. Keep up the great work, Martha!

You are a funny little girl! You may have a great career in your future as an investigative journalist. When I was your age, my school served stewed prunes. GROSS! I hope your blog forces your school to offer a more kid-friendly menu. xoxo, Lori

Hi. This is Meagan from Wisconsin, USA. You are so brave for putting this up. My high school lunches are nothing compared to this wonderful looking food. Lunches here are usually burgers, cookies, fries, pizza, hot dogs, chicken patties, nachos, sweet stuff, etc. It is quite gross. It makes me gag. Although, there is a Sub and Soup line, it is more expensive, like $4 compared to the normal $2. Anyway, maybe ill send my school lunches to you. Good Luck.

Hey there! First of all, congrats on your blog kiddo! I love it! I recently started blogging but I'm kinda slow. I am very lucky that my school has good, tasty lunch, however, we do not have many fruits or vegetables! And it costs $5.

Hi from a USA visitor who, thankfully, is out of school and doesn't have to deal with the lunches/dinners anymore! Our lunches were pretty terrible, but at least a little more in terms of portions...seems like they're pretty stingy with the salads, I'm glad you got the council to agree to unlimited seconds for those! On the other hand your soups sound great...carrot and coriander, yum. Much more variety.

One thing I don't know if you have there is school breakfast. A lot of the children in our area got free lunch and breakfast because of low income - sometimes that was all they got to eat in a day and so it's even worse when it's bad and bad for you. For the rest of the kids we'd usually have lunch cards paid in advance. You could buy them separately if you wanted to (say, pack your lunch sometimes and buy hot lunch sometimes) though. When I was in school it was about $2 so not quite half of what you guys pay now.

How long do you all get to eat? We had 15 minutes once I hit high school, I remember having pretty much no time to eat and talk.

Hello,You are a clever girl, congratulations on your blog, it's absolutely wonderful. When I went to school in Hawaii, our schools had a surplus of raisins. The state had so much, they tried to place them in everything! Jello, Bread, gravy, applesauce, salads, rice, cakes. We ate them for a whole school year! Hence now, I don't like Raisins! Blech!

Happy to find your blog. I must say you're the youngest blogger I ever found on blog sphere! and you are smart girl too! I like healthy food and just amazed how girl your age can come up with this perspective and idea and write them on her very own blog. Keep up the good work and happy blogging and posting.

I have 8 featured blogs on my blogroll which periodically updated and proud to include your inspiring blog on the list just my way to appreciate your and other bloggers hard work I found across the web.

From one blogger to another, way to go. I wish you could see the US's lunch cafeteria food. Horrible! As a parent, there are days where I can't see paying them any money for the crud they serve. Good for you for being brave and standing up to show the good, the bad and the ugly! Keep it up!

Veg ~I am an avid foodie and read many related blogs and was so impressed with your efforts and how you have affected change within your school. You have definitely opened some eyes and are quite the ambassador. GREAT JOB!! I wish you well and continued good eats!Corry ~ California USA

if you look into what has happend you will find there has been no change at all to the school dinners ...the school has a menu system with always a healthy choice and also more "main stream" meals for the kids who will not eat if there is no "junk " on the plate there is always salad and baked potatos or a choice of main meal off the four week menu perhaps if veg asked the dinner ladys if she could photograph all the choces she has on offer it would give a better reflection of the healthy options that are being passed up

You are a very creative young lady! I wish I had this advanced technology when I was your age so that I could hold my school's cafeteria accountable for what they served. Maybe I'll see you on Food Network reviewing school lunches someday, best of luck! - Ryan ~ Boston, MA, USA.

I love this blog. Something everyone can relate to because we have all been there. Also, it's very well done. Keep it coming. I'm a fan! Our eating habits start at a young age and it's something we should all be aware of. Saw this on Yahoo but now going to be a active follower. Great work

This is one of the coolest blogs on the internet. I love it that you are so proactive at age 9 and were able to make a change. I have shared your blog with my co-workers here at work, and they love it. Wish you the best

I saw your blog on Yahoo.com and decided to check it out. It's a good idea. I remember my school cafeteria day and wish someone was there to rate some of the stuff we were eatin'. One day my buddy found a used band-aid in his chili. Yeiks!!! Well, just wanted to hello. Keep on bloggin' if our school cafeteria has someone critiquing them they will most likely do a better job. Good Luck!Jarom S. - Houston, Texas USA

I love your blog I remember back when I was in school I never use to eat lunch either. My parents didnt have much money so if I didnt eat lunch then I didnt have anything for the day. But I now see why my kids dont eat their lunch at school.

There is a tidal wave of consciousness sweeping across the land. Here are two uplifting videos to help everyone understand why the number of vegans has doubled in less than 3 years and why so many are making this life affirming choice: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKr4HZ7ukSE and http://www.veganvideo.org

Do you want to make history? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6ehL18rqlM

Hi there Ms. I read about your story on CNET.com. It's very fascinating. About this Mexican dish - I'm Mexican-American(Hispanic) and I can tell you that dish is no where close to being a Mexican dish. I've had $3 TV dinners that look way better than that. Anyways, I hope things have improved and congrats on your blogging success. Best wishes -Joe, Houston, TX USA

Super impressed in Toronto about your creativity and dedication to making this change! For the money they are charging you for lunch the school can definitely do better in providing you with a nutritious and delicious lunch. My friend runs a school lunch program here and I sent your blog to her to share with her school council! She makes meals from scratch every day and runs their breakfast program and snacks and it is possible! Keep it up! What a great use of social media. Kudos!

Your awesome blog is featured as a link on CNN. The link goes to a website called 'The Mother Nature Network' Congrats!http://www.mnn.com/food/healthy-eating/blogs/9-year-olds-blog-shames-school-into-serving-better-lunches?hpt=hp_bn16

By the way, I do hope they feed you better in school. The pictures you show aren't lunches... they look like snacks!I hope your blog makes a change at your school. :)

Hello. Interesting blog. I really enjoy reading about your lunch and I enjoy seeing other countries' school lunches.

When I saw this picture I echo Joe's feelings about this dish. It doesn't look very Mexican or Mexican-American. However, it does look healthier (in terms of cooking method) than what we have in the States.

Congrats on your successful blog. I hope they feed you a bit more at school...I hope they give you more vegetables or more meat on your tray.

I found your blog via this link:http://healthland.time.com/2012/05/25/9-year-old-food-blogger-takes-on-school-lunch/?iid=obnetwork